The Case Against the Dolphins being Aggressively Stupid in Free Agency and the Draft

Let me start this off by asking
you, the reader a few questions – how many times now has the Dolphins been
crowned winners of the offseason by making that “big splash” free agent signing
(WR Mike Wallace, DT Ndamukong Suh, and even QB Jay Cutler) Or making that big
offseason trade (CB Byron Maxwell and LB Kiko Alonso?) Or how about making a
big trade up in the draft (with the Raiders in 2013 for DE Dion Jordan?) And
now answer this, how many times has that paid off? How many times has been
stupidly aggressive paid off for our Miami Dolphins? Not one time and no, two
one and done playoff appearances in between 8 years doesn’t count.

I’ve seen plenty of Dolfans on
the Twitterverse and on the DolphinsTalk.com comments section state they want
Miami to release Suh, Tannehill, and Mike Pouncey (easier said than done) and
then make the “big free agent splash” by signing Kirk Cousins and following up
with trading up in the draft and selecting one of the top quarterbacks, talk
about being stupidly aggressive. Let’s be honest, the people who want this, are
the same people who want Mike Tannenbaum fired but would praise him if he made
such a move – only to demand he’d be fired again in three years’ time when
these moves backfired as they usually do.

It’s time for the Miami
Dolphins fans and their front office, no matter who’s running it, to stop being
stupidly aggressive and start being smart.

Stop throwing money away on
“big name” free agents and spread your cap around on mid-tier free agents –
Like instead throwing big money at Kirk Cousins, who could never get the job
done in Washington, Miami should turn around and sign mid-tier free agent
quarterback Josh McCown. McCown proved last season to be a more than reliable
starter with the Jets and would be an upgrade over Matt Moore as Tannehill’s
backup and wouldn’t stop Miami from taking a quarterback at any point in the
draft. If Tannehill goes down again, the Dolphins season wouldn’t be
jeopardized with McCown under center. McCown finished the season with 2,926 yards,
18 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions with a quarterback rating of 92.5.

Another cheap option Miami
could go with is trading for Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian who
would only cost $1.9 million against the cap. Siemian would be another upgrade to
Moore backing up Tannehill and like Chad Pennington, Siemian is a game manager
who won’t cost you a game and or the season if Tannehill were to go down with
another injury.

And then there’s this… Trade
down! Not up in the draft… gain more picks, not less. The Dolphins do not have
the luxury of cap space or a talented roster to be giving up players or picks
to be moving up in the draft for one player who may end in being a bust in
three years’ time… we did that already with Dion Jordan. Now credit, Miami
didn’t give up much of anything that year to move up, only swapping their
first-round pick and giving up their second rounder as well – so I wouldn’t
mind that, if we had an extra second rounder to give but let’s stop living in
fantasy land and start living in reality.

The Dolphins need to start
being smart and look at the successful teams of last season – like the Vikings,
Jaguars, Eagles, and even those damn Patriots. Sign mid-tier free agents, let
the draft fall to you and draft the best player available or trade down and
gain more picks to fill the roster with quality talent. This is the only way
that the Dolphins will ever get to the point of consistently winning football
games soon. No more wasting money, no more splashes and most of all no more
being aggressively stupid.

Follow me on Twitter at @BobbyFinstalk
for News, Rumors, and Opinions on everything Miami Dolphins!

8 Comments

Don't care for McCown and Siemien and as much as I like Cousins, a qb will not cure this team's ailments. They need to cut Tannehill,Larsen,McCain,Thomas and Gray. Sign Ziggy Ansah. And just utilize the draft to get rbs and o-linemen. Forget about CJ Anderson and Dion Lewis. That's assuming they can pull off a trade with Jarvis Landry. Look, it is going to be hard to lose Landry in the beginning but think about the position he plays. A receiver ain't going to save this team either. That's what I think they should do. Keep Suh. Keep Pouncey we don't have an upgrade for him yet. Resign Bushrod. Sign the transition tag for James. Again, we don't have any upgrades at those positions so got to keep them. Move Tunsil back to LG and play Sam Young at LT. That's what I think they should do.

Everything depends on evaluations of players in the draft. If one of the QBs is evaluated highly by the FO and they believe that he is a franchise player, then they will try to move up for him. If that franchise QB is in this draft, I see a Tannehill trade happening. Most likely move would be to send him to Arizona or Minnesota for their first round pick and other picks and pick swaps later in the draft. Then use the 2 first rounders to move up in to the top 5 to get their guy. If they feel the guy they want will fall to them same senario but get 2 first rounders to help beef up the team. If none of QBs interest them they will stick with THill and draft as they sit unless another team wants to move up to their spot to select a QB. Then they can move down and acquire more picks to jump around the draft.

I believe the front office is committed to Ryan Tannehill because Adam Gase is committed to Ryan Tannehill and we've seen that when Gase has your back you have nothing to worry about… Now I believe you're right, Miami may still take a QB in round one but later rather than earlier if the one they like falls (Watch for Jacksonville pick). The only way I see Miami trading up is if they trade Landry and can get an early second rounder for him and use that to move up a few picks up but again – they have so many other needs other than quarterback, it would be waste in my opinion unless that QB turned out to be Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees in 3 years time.